and desire into temples scattered throughout the country, but as far as he knew, there was no mind reading involved. Finally, he asked, “How’d you know that?”
“Because I’ve always got at least one of our TVs turned to the news and it says the National Guard was attacked by creatures or something there.” Beneath the thrumming bass and pounding rhythms of Joan Jett’s “Heartbreaker,” Cole could hear the voice of a newscaster anxiously relaying some information he couldn’t quite make out. “It looks like there are more soldiers flying in.”
“You need to get here and it’s got to be now,” he said. “Is there any possible way you can reach me using only one temple?”
After a short, unusually quiet pause on her end of the call, Tristan replied, “Yes. We’ve done it before. It just requires more energy and a Skipping Temple, but we still can’t get involved with known criminals.”
“It’s too late to worry about that. This is about survival.”
“You want to talk survival?” she asked in a voice that was severe and still sultry. “The Nymar have more connections than ever with the police. They also view Dryad blood as the most valuable substance in existence. We can’t afford to draw police attention by becoming Skinner accomplices.”
“The Breaking Moon is rising. Do you know what that is?”
“I’ve heard some things, but just a few vague legends.”
“The Full Bloods are gathering and they no longer give a rat’s ass about being seen or anything else,” Cole said in a voice that became fiercer with every syllable. “They’re tearing through entire towns and are drawing on some kind of power that allows them to change humans into Half Breeds without biting them. Now here’s the big question. Can you make a bridge between two spots where neither end has a temple?”
“Why do you want to do that?”
Resisting the urge to snap at her, he said, “Just tell me if it’s possible.”
“I may be able to act as a Skipping Temple, but it depends on how far you’re going.”
“There’s going to be more than one that needs to be moved,” he explained. “Some can just go a few hundred miles, but others will have to go across the world.”
She laughed without a speck of humor in her tone before saying, “Sometimes I can’t tell if you’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
At the beginning of the call, her side of the connection had been filled with the usual mixture of loud music, catcalls, and DJ ramblings one might expect from a strip club. Now, she’d moved to a place where her voice was clearer and everything else had been relegated to the background. “What is it you want me to do, Cole?” Tristan asked in an intensely sober tone.
“First of all, I need you to get me to Atoka, Oklahoma. After that, I’ll signal you, and that’s when I need you to open another bridge.” From there, he proceeded to tell her what he needed, with as many of the details as he’d been able to put together.
After he finished, Tristan let out a deep breath and said, “That’s a tall order.”
“Is it possible?”
“It’s been done before, but that was a long time ago when we had a lot more power at our disposal. I’m talking about daily visits to our temples by true worshippers.”
“I’ve seen the way those guys look at you when you’re in that hot little outfit with the veils,” Cole said. “You’re being truly worshipped.”
“Lust and desire are different and much shallower than reverence,” she pointed out. “If we’re going to do this, we need to tap into a deeper well.”
“Tristan, we need to make this happen. The Breaking Moon has just come up, and every Full Blood may be getting the power to turn humans into Half Breeds just by looking at them. I’ve seen it and it’s only getting worse. These soldiers have already been killed or turned. Paige says it’s worse in Oklahoma, and when more troops are sent here, they’ll be turned too. The people in this town still may be changed by this Breaking Moon or could get torn apart by any Half Breeds that got away from us and turned the old-fashioned way. We need to make sure this doesn’t spread to other towns, other cities, and possibly other countries.”
“Oh my Lord,” Tristan sighed.
“Yeah, so what’ve you got for me on this Skipping Temple thing?”
“Are you sure this is the only way to get this job done?”
“If you’ve got a better idea, I’m open for it. Just be quick because Paige is in the worst of it right now.”
Tristan drew a deep breath and let it out in a measured voice. “Our temples and bridges use emotion as fuel. Pleasure, desire, and reverence are the purest sources, but what you need is a quick burn, and the only way to get that is to tap into a darker source. Channeling these emotions can taint even the best of us and possibly destroy the Dryad who attempts to put them to use.”
“What do you need from me?”
“Fear.”
Cole chuckled and closed his eyes as a chorus of Half Breed snarls rose in the distance. “I should be able to accommodate you on that one.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
When Paige’s phone vibrated against her hip, she was sitting in the back of a hardware store on a stretch of East Court Street that had been destroyed by roaming packs of Half Breeds. She’d gotten there in Waggoner’s green pickup. He waited near the broken front window, watching for more shapeshifters while Jesse and Bill Phillips dragged in the bodies of Half Breeds that had either been killed by Skinner weapons or shredded by copious amounts of gunfire. Al drove out to collect more carcasses, leaving Bill to gut the creature with quick, efficient movements. “You gonna get that?” he asked.
Paige straightened up from where she’d been hunching over a large plastic bucket. It contained a pungent mixture that she stirred using flat sticks meant for mixing paint. She dug her humming phone out, checked the screen, and answered the call. “Cole! This had better be good. Things have taken a turn out here.”
“Things aren’t much better here.” After filling her in on what he’d discovered, he added, “But whatever they’re doing to force the change doesn’t seem to work on Skinners. Something’s going on with us, though.”
“I know. I hooked up with a few Skinners who have dealt with the mess since this town was overrun,” she explained. “Once the Breaking Moon rose, they’ve been getting bouts of crankiness that are bad enough to rip each other’s faces off. They say it feels like something stabbing them in the gut.”
“Same here. What about you?” Cole asked. “Have you felt a tension that makes you want to rip something apart?”
“No more than usual. Why did you call?”
“I need you to get as many of those things together as possible because Tristan will be trying to zap me right to them.”
Paige gave him a tired laugh. “I’m on the front lines and you’re talking to strippers. Typical.”
“Just call me when you know where they are or where they might be headed.”
“The Full Bloods won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, I can tell you that much. There’s a source of power here, and from what I’ve heard, they intend on keeping this place as some sort of stronghold.” She felt a warm smile grace her lips. “It’d be nice to see you again at least once more before—”
“Just stop right there,” he interrupted. “It’ll take a little while for Jessup to find enough gargoyles to chase after me, but I’m on my way.”
“Why get them to chase you?”
“Because seeing those things dive straight at me, staring with those black little eyes, freaks me out, and that’s what Tristan needs to open the …forget it. Just do what I asked and we’ve got a chance at keeping this thing from getting any worse.”
“We’ve got at least five Full Bloods to kill,” Paige said, “and maybe hundreds of Half Breeds to put down while we’re being watched by a clueless public and a whole lot of smug Nymar making themselves comfortable in the
